Monday, September 29, 2008

This is the last of the music library posts for now. It is an early Sonoton label release by Walt Rockman, who also recorded for other music library labels like Conroy and Coloursound.

I originally planned to post an earlier LP titled Underwater vol.1 in addition to this one. Fortunately, it is already available at Heino und Jerry. I also located a post of selections from Pollution, the Sonoton LP that followed Biology. They are available at Waxidermy.

The music here is primarily minimal electronics, and a couple tracks with more instrumentation, including a funky disco-ish track. My favorite at the moment is B12-Intact Nature, partly for reminding me of a passage to a Stereolab track. The inevitable addition of strings as it develops doesn't ruin the track, but this is one instance where leaving them out would have been a wiser choice.

I have to wonder, considering the implied intent of the title that these tracks are meant for shows/films that are biology or science themed in nature, if any of these ever appeared in educational, or commercial films. I imagine they were going with titles that would grab the attention of a music/sound producer looking for background music - Chromosomes, Cancerisation, Molecular Motion and Sea Life .

As I go through more music library LP in my collection, I hope to find some more that haven't been posted elsewhere. Next up will be the Vanity label 7"s (finally!!).

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Continuing from the last LP post, here is another Sonoton label LP from Sammy Burdson Group.

This one shares some similarities to the previous LP, but in addition to leaning towards Cluster or Woo, it (sadly for some) also resembles Euro space disco at times. There are also many electronic pieces that remind of Conrad Schnitzler that still make the LP worthwhile, not to mention some nice ambient tracks.

Several of the tracks with numerical variations are similar thematically. Typically, they sound like the same piece with different sound patches.

Another Sonoton LP on they way, and then finally to the Vanity label 7"s.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

I will be making my second DJ appearance at King & I Thai this Tuesday, Sept. 23rd.

King & I Thai is located in the Loring Park area of Minneapolis. The address is 1346 LaSalle ave.

The food is excellent and there are drink specials as well.

The music starts around 10 and goes till close (2 am). I will be spinning in a similar groove to the Champion Superior Soundsystem nights from my DC days. Lots of African, Brazilian and other funky grooves.

Here is another 'music library' LP. This is the first of at least three early Sonoton label release I plan to post here in the next week or so. The Sonoton label released at least a couple hundred LPs from the 60's to through the 80's. It is the largest indepenedent German music library label and was founded by Gerard Narholz.

As with many music library albums, most followed a common theme for each release with the intent that a film, radio or TV producer could simply pull up a specific LP that matched the mood they were looking for (drama, tension, energetic...). Many of the earlier Sonoton albums had fairly flashy picture sleeves and succinct titles to go along with each themed release like 'Drugs', 'Biology', 'Under Water', 'Fast', 'Slow', 'Climax'...

This album is titled 'Contemporary Sounds and Movements Vol 1', but I'm grasping to think of much that sounds like this from what I imagine to be somewhere in the 70's. The closest comparisons that come to mind are Sky label era Cluster and Woo. A little bit cosmic at times, with a bunch of filtered drums. The cover in no way hints at to what this album actually sounds like. This looks like a record that would typically be confined to the shelves of a thrift store (easy listening, instrumental music).

Aside from Sammy Burdson, who also recorded for other music library labels like Conroy and Intersound, other notables that appeared in the Sonoton series are John Fiddy, Klaus Weiss, Claude Larson, Sam Sklair & Walt Rockman.

While looking around to see if any of these albums have already been posted elsewhere, I found these other sites that have good music library posts from Sonoton and other more 'sought-after' labels like KPM, Themes, CAM, DeWolfe, Telemusic, Coloursound (best known for several ex-Brainticket Joel V. LPs).

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Yes, it has been a long time since my last post. I keep pulling out records or cassettes to feature here, only to find they've been posted elsewhere.

I couldn't find any information on this specific album or the artists involved, but I did locate a current website for the Illustra Son label. The label features excerpts from many releases on their label, but not this one. After looking at the numbering scheme of the releases on their catalog page, it is possible this LP is from 1986.

The music here at times sounds like many other similar drama/tension/suspense-themed music library LPs, but there are a few tracks that have that edge or oddness about them that makes this a suitable post here. Some of the tracks here particularly remind me of music that appeared on the Multimood label, particularly Controlled Bleeding & Asmus Tietchens at that time.